
Outbreak Festival 2026’s Best Performances
Outbreak Festival is the most consistently hailed event in European hardcore. Now, four years into that title, how can it possibly live up to the hype?

Outbreak Festival is the most consistently hailed event in European hardcore. Now, four years into that title, how can it possibly live up to the hype?

Static Dress are the face of emo’s nostalgic new wave. They’re not here to provide nostalgia, though; they are here to kill it and build the present.

Car Underwater reignite pop screamo. Their members are Generation Z’s most influential acts, but on Dagger Breaks Window they abandon experimentation.

Blood Countess’ Imperatrix Sanguinis is cold and sadistic fun; a reminder of why the black metal genre thrived in the first place.

Pale Skies pairs two of the melodic hardcore’s strongest acts of the past year: Square One and Turn of Phrase.

Exit Dream’s Out Your Skin” combines post-rock with hardcore roots and pop songwriting to create a cinematic soundscape.

Footballhead outline a vision of post-grunge and emo that breathes a breath of fresh air. They craft a sound that’s nostalgic and new.

Bloody Knees were national stars. By 2019, they had disappeared. What Else was recorded in 2020: is it a time capsule of a brief moment or did Bloody Knees form their own timeless path?

Grungegaze is a ubiquitous part of 2026’s rock underground. How did this genre grow from a small group of friends in the 2010s to blossom into a viral internet sensation?

The mythical creature of ancient folklore relentlessly feeds on our creative works, and through generations, we willingly succumb to the vampire made rock star.

Pantera’s performance have lost some of their fire, but for devoted fans, it remains the closest they will ever come to experiencing their music live.
Hardcore has experienced a meteoric rise in popularity since 2020. Subsequently, the past two years have brought a revived interest in melodic hardcore.